Higgins Injured While Blowing Self, Forced to Retire

We’re starting to think that Brian Higgins could lose his bid for reelection to Congress this fall. You think this is heresy? You think that he’s an incumbent and it’s a heavily Democratic district so he’s a shoo-in? Or maybe you just think it’s too early to start thinking about this year’s congressional elections? It’s not, and we think Brian should start thinking about it real hard.

You see, Brian has a problem. He already showed us that he can’t be trusted. A lot of people worked hard to get him elected because they thought he was a man of the people. Then he got in and voted for the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act, the Terry Schiavo legislation, and the Class Action Fairness Act. There were eight bills that Congress voted on that were partisan, us versus them, and he voted with the Republicans on three of them. That’s not a real good record. So his “man of the people” image has been pretty well tarnished.

If Higgins wants to retain the people that supported him in 2004, he’s going to have to do better. We know he thinks he did great things getting the Niagara Power Authority to give us more money than they had planned. He can stop blowing himself. It was a better deal, not a great deal. Now he wants us to be impressed that he’s having that money spent on developers to create a waterfront playground for wealthy suburbanites. How about a beach that ordinary people could pull their cars up to, get out, throw a blanket on the ground, crack a beer and watch their kids wade into the water? No, a five star hotel is better. Yeah, we see where he’s coming from (the new haircut and designer glasses were a dead giveaway). Well, he should know the money could be better spent getting us those jobs that we lost as a result of his friend Hillary and her husband’s support for NAFTA and the like. When he works on that, then we’ll start to be impressed.

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll conducted January 6-8, 2006 asked adults nationwide how important the situation in Iraq will be to their votes for Congress this year. 85% said it would be extremely or very important. But Higgins has been pretty much dodging this Iraq war thing. He thinks it’s complicated, that we need to “stay the course” and he doesn’t want to be perceived as “weak on terror,” because then Karl Rove, with the help of Tom Reynolds and all the other local GOP reprobates, is going to shove a huge replica of the twin towers straight up his ass.

The thing is that most people are sick of this war, and if he’s not going to stand with the people then fuck him; we’ll find someone who will. The same poll mentioned above asked if a timetable for withdrawal should be set. 49% said yes; 47% said no. My guess is a lot of the 47% are Bush-loyalist Republicans, who wouldn’t vote for a Democrat anyhow. So what can Higgins do to make us and a lot of others happy? He could start by supporting Congressman John Murtha’s plan (as Louise Slaughter has) to get us the hell out of the mess in Iraq. Murtha’s informed position is that the occupation is the cause of the violence and it’s not going to end until we leave.

It not just a majority of Americans that want us to get out; the Iraqis do too. Reminds us of Private 8-Ball’s words in Full Metal Jacket—“They’d rather be alive than free, I guess. Poor dumb bastards.”

A poll conducted for WorldPublicOpinion.org by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland, January 2-5, asked Iraqis what they would like their newly elected government to ask the US-led forces to do. 70% favored setting a timeline for withdrawal of US forces. This number divides evenly between “within six months,” and “over two years.” Also, 47% favored attacks on American forces.

So let’s talk a little bit about democracy and giving the people what they want. The people in America—and Iraq—are pretty fed up. Locally, the antiwar sentiment is pretty high. So what it would take for Higgins to lose? It would take a Republican challenger who isn’t totally ineffectual and a serious challenge from a decent antiwar candidate.

Well, that scenario should already be lurking in the Congressman’s head, and not just because he’s been reading about his being a tool in this paper. Higgins has already been visited in early January by a group of representatives from various local groups and concerned citizens urging the young Congressman to get with Murtha’s program, and by extension a majority of the people, on this issue. The group hasn’t decided how they are going to proceed just yet, or how they are going to go public with their efforts. We’ll let you know what they’re going to do and what you, our loyal readers, can do to take part in it in the next issue. Note to Jack Davis: we’re pretty sure they’ll be coming to see you next.

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